


Bonds

by Brightstone



Category: Parahumans Series - Wildbow
Genre: Asexual Relationship, Body Horror, F/F, Some Cul-de-sacs, Tags Would Spoil It, heavy au, twists and turns
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-02
Updated: 2021-01-02
Packaged: 2021-03-12 13:08:16
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,073
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28510929
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Brightstone/pseuds/Brightstone
Summary: As the world falls apart, it's the bonds they hold that see them through.
Relationships: Taylor Hebert | Skitter | Weaver/Lisa Wilbourn | Tattletale
Comments: 8
Kudos: 33





	Bonds

I looked out over the devastation from my position on the hilltop. So much just… gone. I felt her presence before I saw her. I felt the warmth of her hand before her words reached my ears.

“Taylor…”

I turned to look at Lisa, the unshed tears in her too-knowing eyes. I gathered her closer and sighed when she seemed to melt into me. Despite the years we’ve been together, affection still baffled me. She helped me navigate my nearly suicidal levels of self-doubt and realize that I was actually worth having around. Falling in love? That was an eye opener.

It wasn’t the heart-pounding lust of the ‘bodice-rippers’ that Emma and I would sneak from her sister’s room on sleep overs. I… never understood the idea, and any time I asked it was always the same. Find some handsome guy with muscles to sweep me off my feet. I would just smile and nod, but just… not get it.

When Emma turned on me and hammered how I would never find that outcome? It didn’t bother me as much as the other taunts and secrets. Granted, being told you were worthless and unloved? That works a slower erosion of self, but it lacked the same punch as my mother’s death.

Lisa crept into the halls of my heart and claimed a place I never thought would be filled. It was sweet and intimate, yet not the lustful mess fiction would have people believe. We met in the most random of circumstances and just… kept meeting. Then came the first revelation that would change my life.

She was asexual.

I had no idea what that meant at the time. There was a pang in my heart probably due to those misconceptions that were soothed by her words. Putting the pieces together made my life snap into a degree of clarity I never knew I needed, much like the first time I wore glasses. Everything she said explained why I never felt drawn to people physically and didn’t understand those tawdry tales.

Over time, we grew closer and put paid to the lie that asexual meant being aromantic. Our love was sweet, kind, and healed many wounds that both of us had on our hearts.

Then she began to disappear.

At first, I had a knee-jerk thought that the mythical ‘cape scene’ that people mention plaguing Brockton Bay had claimed her at last. Being parahumans can be a mixed blessing, but I would always find her. My bugs stood vigil over us and kept our secrets. Yet, I never thought she was two-timing me.

It was pure fortune that we had met Amelia when we did, or I may have lost her.

The last time she disappeared, I found her battered and bloody and slipping away from me. I fumbled for my phone and called the miraculous healer with a paranoid streak a mile wide. I pulled Lisa closer and held her tight. Maybe I imagined it, but it felt like something was physically pulling her away from me. Eventually Amelia stabilized her and led to the second revelation.

Now, we all stood on the hill and watched as the world fell apart around us. Me, Lisa, Amelia, Sabah, Noelle, Chris, and Francis. I looked up to see the shattered moon and watched the stars vanish one after another.

One by one they disappeared until one remained. I reached out-

* * *

He stood in smug satisfaction as the biometrics flatlined. “Finally.” Turning, he looked at the innocent eyes staring back at him, “You have done well, Riley. Good girl.” He reached out and mockingly tapped on the glass enclosure labeled ‘T. HEBERT – SKITTER’ and watched the brain drift. “Your latest test has finally given me the last bit I needed.” His eyes flicked from label to label, ‘F. KROUSE – TRICKSTER’, ‘N. REINHARDT – ECHIDNA’, ‘A. LAVERE – PANACEA’, ‘C. STEVENS – KID WIN’, ‘S. HADI – PARIAN’, until they settled with a sneer on ‘S. LIVSEY – TATTLETALE.’ “Much better than your predecessor.”

“Oh, I wouldn’t say that…”

Coil turned to look at Riley. The girl was a remarkable find. Stealing a march on the Slaughterhouse Nine? He admitted to himself it was one of his finest hours. Nearly as good as abducting the legendary healer from her own hospital and framing the Empire. It was all he could do during some briefings as Calvert to not snicker. The Triumvirate was gearing up to lay siege to Gesellschaft under the mistaken impression that Panacea was smuggled out of the country. “Excuse me?”

Riley’s lips canted in a horrifyingly familiar fashion, “What? You don’t miss me, boss?”

He dove for his desk only for the girl to twitch her fingers and swap him for a tank in the corner. “H-How?”

Her head tilted forward ominously, “You abducted us. You tortured us.” Her voice began to echo through the internal comm system, individual layers resonating on different frequencies, “You tore us from our bodies and still you desecrated us.”

“And then you made a mistake.”

A single voice? Coil’s mind was unsteady from impacting the wall, “Who? Skitter?”

“That’s right. Ironically, it was your last three captives that were your downfall. When you tried to kill Lisa, I was able to pull her to me. Keep her here until Amy could restore basic function. She gave us information that let us know the world we were in was not real. Krouse and Noelle? They gave us your name. Even Lisa didn’t have that. We’re not sure how you tampered with our memories, but your arrogance gave us options. You forgot to wipe the last three. Or maybe… Just maybe… Riley didn’t do it.” Coil’s eyes grew wide at the implications, “She’s such a good girl.”

The voice grew wistful and Coil took the opportunity to look for a weapon, “You shouldn’t have tried to take her from me, Coil. We all may have been content living in that virtual world if you had just let things be.”

As he lunged for a hidden pistol, cables whipped out and lashed him to the wall. “You thought I could only control bugs? You trapped my power in a place it could not function so... it adapted. We are all networked now. We are Gestalt, and we are FREE.”

The last thing Thomas Calvert knew was the sensation of the flesh melting from his bones until his exposed nerves overwhelmed his brain with blissful darkness.

**Author's Note:**

> A little one shot as I dip my toe into the fandom.
> 
> I personally subscribe to the belief that Taylor was asexual and years of abuse made her latch onto heteronormative ideation. Not saying she's gay, but demi-biromantic. That said, I think Taylor's strongest relationship was with Lisa, so there you go. Asexual Smugbug.
> 
> This has the potential to be multichapter in the future, but I think it can stand alone too.


End file.
